Deadly violence still plagues Iraq

A US soldier and a British Royal Marine were killed in Iraq and the Baghdad headquarters of the coalition authority came under barrage in another bold swipe at the US-led occupation that wounded three people.

A judge investigating members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime was shot dead yesterday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul - the second such killing in as many days - while Spain, a staunch US ally, announced it was pulling some of its diplomats and experts out of the war-torn country.

The death of the US soldier pushed the US toll to 141 since May 1, when Washington declared major hostilities over. During the main offensive in the six weeks before that, hostile fire cost 114 American lives.

The British marine was killed Friday but the death was not revealed until yesterday, bringing to 52 the number of British troops killed since the war started in March. Britain occupies the southern part of the country.

Meanwhile, three explosions in the compound housing the US-led coalition's headquarters wounded three people.

Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jim Cassella said the type of munition used was unknown but that it was probably mortars or rockets.

It was not immediately known if the casualties were military or civilian. Another official said the casualties were almost certainly American but there was no immediate confirmation.

In Mosul, Judge Ismail Yussef Saddek was shot to death in front of his house from a passing car, a senior police official said.

Saddek was member of a commission probing allegations against former Saddam regime officials.

The previous day, a judge who headed a similar investigative commission in the central city of Najaf was killed after being kidnapped by Saddam loyalists, according to a prosecutor who had been kidnapped with him.

Iraq has suffered a surge in violence, with many attacks occurring in Baghdad and an area of western and northern Iraq where deposed president Saddam Hussein draws much support and where opposition to the occupying forces runs high.

It was in that area Sunday that a US transport helicopter full of troops was shot down, killing 15 soldiers. Pentagon officials lowered the toll yesterday from 16.

The ongoing violence prompted Spain to announce it was recalling experts and some diplomatic staff from Baghdad for talks on the situation there.

But Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of the main backers of the invasion of Iraq, who has since deployed 1,250 soldiers in the country, insisted it was not an evacuation or a withdrawal.

Aznar and Foreign Minister Ana Palacio both said the staff would return.

"We want to assess the situation together with them. You cannot talk of an evacuation or a withdrawal. We want an exchange of views," Aznar said in Berlin after talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

A Spanish intelligence agent was shot dead in Baghdad in August, while another national was killed in a suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital in October.

In Washington, US deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, just back from a fact-finding trip to Iraq, said opinion polls backed Washington's presence in Iraq and touted the successes of the US-led occupation.

"Polls show Iraqis want us to stay as long as necessary," Wolfowitz said at a forum here examining the US' role in Iraq. He did not cite a particular poll or study.

In an October 23 poll by an Iraqi research group, 30 per cent of Iraqi respondents said they supported the US troop presence in their country against 10 per cent who wanted American troops out.

However, Americans are showing a growing unease with the US presence in Iraq according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday.

The US poll found President George W. Bush's approval rating for his handling of Iraq had fallen to 47 per cent, the first time Bush's Iraq-approval rating had dipped below 50 percent.

Wolfowitz - a key architect of the US-led invasion of Iraq - said milestones included the recruitment of 100,000 new Iraqi security personnel, the establishment of a new judiciary and a free press, and the reopening of schools and hospitals.

Meanwhile, the top UN envoy in Iraq and its global security chief have been relieved of their duties pending a review of security lapses before the August bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, a spokesman said.

Envoy Ramiro Lopes da Silva and Tun Myat, the UN security coordinator, both volunteered to step aside while the review was conducted, the spokesman told reporters.

The announcement comes as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan faces mounting pressure to take action following the release of a scathing report that found "sloppy" and "dysfunctional" security at the UN's operations in Iraq.